"No! You can't!" A helpless victim struggled against invisible restraints, wishing she could somehow shrink into the wall behind her and avoid the dark figure coming toward her.

"There is no need to struggle," the deep, male voice said. "You are helping a worthy cause."

The victim felt like she was going to be sick as the man continued his approach, cloaked in scarlet robes the color of blood and his stone-cold eyes showing no hint of mercy. She wouldn't be able to stop him. She had no choice. Stalling was the only option. "Slaughtering one of your own kind? I wouldn't call that a worthy cause."

He was in front of her in a flash, his wrinkled face only inches from hers. "That abomination is not one of my kind. Besides," he purred in a softer voice, "you know why he has to be destroyed."

She swallowed thickly, biting her lip against tears. He had hit her soft spot, and her resolve crumbled.
"Because of you." A crooked smile formed on his lips, as if he enjoyed watching her internal suffering. Then he lifted his shaking hands and pressed two fingers against both sides of her head.

She wasn't ready for the weight of him in her mind. He was brutal, knocking down every defense she had carefully placed there. He pulled up exactly what he wanted, an image of a bug-like creature with smooth, lavender skin and eight slitted eyes. A memory replayed in her head of that same alien morphing into a stocky, blond-haired human.

The victim was released as the robed man chuckled and backed away from her. "Thank you very much for that information. We will hold the Vespiform Queen within the hour, I think. I suppose I'll be seeing your father very soon."

"He's beaten you before," the victim retorted. The old time lord's eyes widened but he said nothing. The victim then sighed, slumping against the wall though the manacles around her wrists, ankles, and middle held her in place. "So now you're harming other innocent races to get to him?"

He turned his back on her and began to walk away. "You're just like him, you know. So compassionate. It would almost be touching if it didn't cause so much trouble."

"Maybe this universe needs someone to cause trouble, did you ever think of that?" The outburst made him pause on the other side of the room, but only for a moment.

"In a matter of days, all of the trouble in this universe will die with him." He turned to flash a wicked grin, his hand on the handle of the heavy metal door. "And you."